Frequently Asked Questions

YOU: Hey, you do merch? How much would it cost us to do 100 t-shirts?

ME: That depends, do you want 100 basic t-shirts or 100 good quality t-shirts? Do you want one colour print on a light shirt or on a dark shirt? Do you want more than one print colour? How big is your design? How many locations will you be printing on?

YOU: Uh, I dunno.

ME: Then I dunno either.

 

I don’t know prices off the top of my head unless you give me all of the variables that are included in that price quoting. I’d love to bounce numbers at you, but even when I do, this happens….

 

 

 

YOU:  How much for 25 black t-shirts with a 1 color print on the front?
ME:  Cheapest? About $300 bucks.
YOU: That’s 12 bucks a t-shirt! My buddy can do ‘em for 5 bucks a t-shirt!

ME: Then why are you asking me? Clearly your “buddy’s” t-shirts are of the highest print quality and style, the phrase “you get what you pay for” clearly doesn’t suit him and his basement print shop, right?
YOU: Uhhh….

 

A band shouldn’t be making t-shirts just because all the other bands have t-shirts and it seems like an easy way to make some money without spending much. Truth is, you have to spend money to make money and a crappy design printed on a crappy t-shirt probably won’t see daylight. Even if you do move product at your show because your fans are awesome and will buy anything just to support you, chances are you could be moving 20 times MORE product if you were selling GOOD quality t-shirts with a fashionable print. Then even the kids who kinda thought you were okay would probably wanna pick up tees just because they’re rad. How ‘bout them apples?

 

 

 

ME: Hey! I sell merch for bands at shows!
YOU: Cool, I’m in a band!
ME: Have you ever hired a merch person before?
YOU: Nah, my [girlfriend/brother/uncle/dad/sister/cousin/buddy/grandma] sells it for us.

ME: Oh cool. Tell me, how much merch do you sell on average?
YOU: I dunno.

ME: Hmmm… indeed.

 

If you treat your music like the business it is you will find that merch is a band’s most proactive way of earning a financial income. A financial income that can pay for important things like touring, photoshoots, more merch, video expenses, recording expenses and often even living expenses. If you owned a store and needed someone to manage it, would you honestly hire your Grandma or your Girlfriend? Probably not. No matter how much you love them, you’d probably hire somebody with management experience who you’d probably have to pay more than say, er, NOTHING, but at least you know they’d be getting the job done properly, right? A professional merch person keeps count of inventory, takes care of budgeting and often will do both merch and tour management at once. They will take all of that extra weight off of your shoulders so all that you have to do is be the rockstar you are! If you really want to take your girlfriend on tour, there’s always the position of “wardrobe”!